This invention provides a new frozen food product, principally for dessert use, that emulates the textural and rheological characteristics of soft serve ice cream while at home freezer temperatures (e.g. 0.degree. F. to 10.degree. F.). The invention embraces a combination of ingredients which define a new frozen dessert product.
Soft serve ice cream, or simply soft serve, is a highly popular dessert with wide appeal. Distinguishing features of conventional soft serve are that it is frozen in a special soft serve freezer, is dispensed by extrusion at carefully chosen subfreezing temperatures and stands up on a cone or dish upon extrusion. Conventional soft serve is usually dispensed at an overrun on the order of 40% to 60%. Although soft serve of this character has been marketed for many years, it is still available only from stores having special freezers that dispense the product for immediate consumption. This is because the produce generally is dispensed at temperatures between 16.degree. F. and 24.degree. F. (-9.degree. C. to -6.degree. C.). At lower temperatures, the product is no longer sufficiently soft. Conventional soft serve accordingly is not suited for sale from grocery store freezers for home storage and use. Home freezers maintain temperatures generally around 0.degree. F. to 10.degree. F. (-18.degree. C. to -12.degree. C.), and store freezers, which as used herein includes grocery store, supermarket, and restaurant freezers, are generally at colder temperatures.
Others have expended considerable effort to develop a soft serve product for home use, but apparently without success. U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,977 to Kahn, U.S. Pat. No. 4,219,581 to Dea et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,454 to Dea et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,793 to Finney and U.K. Patent Specification No. 1,508,437 disclose frozen food products which supposedly are softer than usual at freezer temperatures. There is considerable other published art on the subject of frozen desserts, particularly ice cream. A recent text is Ice Cream, Second Edition by W. S. Arbuckle, Ph.D., published in 1972 by the Avi Publishing Company, Inc., Westport, Conn.